Third Fridays in downtown Medford

Look for a lively mix of art exhibits, live music and food during downtown Medford's Third Fridays art walk. The event will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 18, at various locations.

Comment

MailTribune.com

Writer

Posted Jul. 17, 2014 at 12:05 PM
Updated Jul 21, 2014 at 12:44 PM

Posted Jul. 17, 2014 at 12:05 PM
Updated Jul 21, 2014 at 12:44 PM

» Social News

Look for a lively mix of art exhibits, live music and food during downtown Medford's Third Fridays art walk. The event will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 18, at various locations.

Art du Jour Gallery, 213 E. Main St., will host a reception for a featured exhibit by member artist Carol Sharp.

Sharp's work is a series of collages with subjects that range from romance, Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras and abstract concepts. She combines the techniques of painting, pen and ink, stamping and decoupage in her collages. Sharp also designs jewelry. Her jewelry will be showcased in the main gallery.

Local photographer Rita Ashley will continue her exhibit of automotive photography in the salon. Raku pottery by Joe Martin also will be displayed in the salon.

The exhibits will run through July.

Rogue Gallery & Art Center, 40 S. Bartlett St., presents "Bodies for Billions: The Work of Miguel Aragon" in its main gallery, and "Land That I Love: Southern Oregon en Plein-Air" by Sarah F. Burns in its community gallery. An opening reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday.

Aragon layers hand-drilled prints to create large-scale pieces that address the Mexican drug cartel wars, depicting violent images of death and the fragile nature of life.

As a native of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Texas artist Aragon grew up surrounded by the fallout of Mexico's ongoing drug war. In his work, he seeks to deal with violent acts through violent processes. For this exhibit, Aragon enlarged newspaper portraits of victims of narcotics-related violence, mounted them on sheetrock panels and used a power drill to create precise patterns of holes in the prints, partially destroying them.

Miguel holds a master's in fine art from the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches printmaking.

He has exhibited throughout the United States, Mexico, South America, Japan, Romania, and Slovakia.

"Land That I Love: Southern Oregon en Plein-Air," oil paintings by Ashland artist Burns, include landscapes from around the Rogue Valley painted "en plein-air," a French term that means open air. All of Burns' paintings were conceived and executed outside at the site of their subject.

"The challenges are obvious," Burns says in a press release. "Changing light, insects, wind, heat or cold, transporting equipment, well-meaning visitors who want to see what you're doing. The opportunities are a little less clear, but nonetheless significant."